Masquerade
by Ekai Ungson
Summary: Daidouji Tomoyo is the daughter of the infamous Flame, the most famous harlot in the country. The time comes when she is forced to marry a rich lord, Hiiragizawa Eriol, with devastating circumstances. Explicit themes, see the rating.
1. Fire

note: this was finished five months ago, as a graduation present for Luna. this fic is therefore dedicated to her. as a fanfic writer, i believed i've bended reality a bit too much in here, as you shall see in the proceeding chapters.   
  
legality: CLAMP owns the stuff, and I'm not worthy  
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, and grace, and friendship  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Tomoyo is of age. I must marry her off as soon as possible if I want to ensure our survival."  
  
"The child will resist vehemently to the idea," the man pointed out. "Although getting a man to marry her will not be so hard a feat. Tomoyo, after all, possesses the beauty of a goddess, against her mouth of hell-fire and brimstone."  
  
"Exactly. And I know just the man to marry her off to."  
  
-One: Fire-  
  
She had an air about her that could be defined as "scorching".  
  
It wasn't in her eyes or on her hair or anywhere in her physical appearance. But her aura simply burned.  
  
It could be owed to the fact that her mother was the woman known as "Flame", the most well-known harlot in the country. Her father was Lord of Daidouji, Ken. According to urban legend, he had been the only one brave enough to marry her mother. Suffice it to say that a daughter gave him a lot of gumption.  
  
But although she was not an illegitimate child, she and her mother were frowned upon by general society. Her mother had broken far too many homes. Her mother was a sinful pariah. Her mother had gotten rich off the money of foolish men.  
  
In fact, her mother seemed to have serviced all the men in town, which she knew for a fact as an absolute lie. She knew that if a man philandered with the Flame, he was sensational. If he philandered with just any woman, he was an idiot. She amused herself with the populace's illusions of grandeur. Her mother had stated in more than one occasion that she only serviced people who could pay the price, and their town wasn't exactly crawling with people rolling in money.  
  
Her name was Tomoyo. Quite a soft name for such a fiery woman. So she was more commonly known as "Kurotori". The black bird.  
  
And now here she was, walking the streets with her chin up. She knew all the women were looking down on their noses on her with disdain. She also knew that the men were looking at her in varying expressions of lust. She could almost laugh.  
  
She made her way into her father's grounds, and inside the house.  
  
"-- must marry her off."  
  
"-- preferably a rich man--"  
  
"-- tame her--"  
  
Tomoyo's eyes narrowed as she entered the room.  
  
"Have you no manners, young lady?" her mother barked. Her real name was Sonomi.  
  
She only glared scathingly at her mother. "Discussin me again, dearest okaa-sama?"  
  
"If I do not take charge of your affairs, no one will, seeing as you've been so irresponsible about this," Sonomi replied. "Your father's estate has seriously depleted. The only way for us to survive is to marry you off for a handsome fee."  
  
Tomoyo scoffed. "And which brave soul of an idiot might agree to marry the daughter of the notorious Flame?"  
  
"Quite a number, actually," said Sonomi in a smug voice. "It seems that these gentlemen believe themselves to be man enough to take you on, Kurotori."  
  
"No man can conquer an Amamiya," Tomoyo told her mother. "You said so yourself."  
  
"It does not stop them from trying, nevertheless," Sonomi answered.  
  
"I will NOT marry for your satisfaction, okaa-sama," Tomoyo muttered firmly.  
  
Sonomi stood up and grabbed her daughter by the shoulder. "You WILL, Tomoyo. I will NOT return to the streets. I will not have you grow to be a whore like me. I WILL have you taken care of, by hell or by God!"  
  
Tomoyo stared up into her mother's eyes, the defiance there mirroring her own.   
  
"Just watch me."  
  
----  
  
And there were quite a number of men who had wanted the position of the husband of the Kurotori. There were princes and kings, and dukes and lords. There were strong young men from lands near and far, who had heard of the infamous Amamiya beauty. They all wanted her, see if they could own her, tame her.  
  
But Daidouji Sonomi knew that ninety-nine percent of these men would only crash and burn when faced with her daughter. For Tomoyo was headstrong and brilliant, and always, always potentially dangerous. No man stood a chance, for Tomoyo was Amamiya, and in the Amamiya women ran blood of infinite heat that could enflame, as well as scorch fatally.  
  
In choosing a potential mate for Tomoyo, Sonomi knew that he had to be more than a match for her daughter. More than equal.  
  
But as far as she knew there was no man yet born who could best an Amamiya.  
  
This man had to be intelligent where Tomoyo was brilliant, cunning where Tomoyo was cautious. He had to know how to defend himself from an Amamiya woman's double-edged wiles and scorching fire. He had to know how to attack and where to attack Tomoyo.  
  
He had to master her. And no man had been yet born to master an Amamiya.  
  
Sonomi had to be very careful.   
  
And very quick.  
  
Time was running out.  
  
----  
  
Tomoyo knew that she was about as brilliant as her mother, and that all attempts to escape this would be futile. She knew that her mother would not rest until she was good and tied to some rich, abominable man.  
  
Tomoyo hated all men with a vengeance. She hated them when they laughed and jeered at her mother, and sought to claim her for themselves as if she were a possession. Those brutes that thought that they could win against her. She derived great pleasure from making them crash down with devastationg results.  
  
There was no place for a man, much less a marriage, in her life.  
  
----  
  
Sonomi had decided.  
  
The man she had picked to marry Tomoyo was strong, rich, darkly handsome. Above all, he was noted for having a superior mind and cunning intellect. He was also notorious with the women and for having a vile temper.  
  
It seemed that this man had been dropped from the heavens straight to her lap, for her rebellious daughter.  
  
She smiled.  
  
----  
  
"His lordship accepts the invitation to see.... the estate, my lady."  
  
/The estate?/ Tomoyo scoffed. /More like me./  
  
"We expect him here within the morrow."  
  
-tsuzuku-  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	2. Flipside

legality: CLAMP owns the stuff, and I'm not worthy  
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, and grace, and friendship  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"This Tomoyo...."  
  
"Yes, well, sire, she is more commonly known as Kurotori. The black bird."  
  
"Yes, her. Why do they call her that?"  
  
"I believe, sir, that the young Daidouji has hair of the darkest, longest black, and eyes of violet steel. It is also said that she can bring the strongest of men to their death with merely a smile."  
  
".... I shall relish meeting this.... Kurotori."  
  
-Two: Flipside-  
  
"I beg you to be amiable to this man, Tomoyo. He is rich. Respected. He will give you a good life should he choose to marry you."  
  
"I will not disgrace my family's name if that is what you wish," Tomoyo replied. "I won't say a word to him.... whoever he is."  
  
"Better that than you rude," Sonomi commented.  
  
Tomoyo only nodded. Her mother had seemed quite pleased with her choice. God only knew by what, exactly. She had heard that the man hadd wealth comparable to a king's and loved challenges.  
  
/Well then, a challenge he shall have./  
  
But she had to admit, she was a little... nervous on meeting this man. She didn't know why. But she was, pretty much.  
  
This Hiiragizawa Eriol had a reputation of being a womanizer, a dictator, and a lavish spender. She had heard that the man had a temper that flared like lava and commanded respect and attention. He was, in short, feared.  
  
But Tomoyo hardened her heart.  
  
There was no room for fear.  
  
Only disdain.  
  
----  
  
The srevants of the Daidouji estate were not happy with the notion of their young mistress being married off to a rich, boorish dictator.  
  
Oh, they knew that if their Ojou-sama married the Hiiragizawa lord, they would enjoy steady employment and more income. But they did not think along such lines.  
  
To them, loyal servants of the Daidoujis, their young mistress had two aspects. That of Kurotori, and that of Tomoyo.  
  
In the outside world, their Ojou-sama was fiery, rebellious, belligerent. Their Ojou-sama was cold as ice and hard as iron, maybe black to the core. Here, she was Kurotori, daughter of Flame, heir to her mother's cutting remarks and bullheaded pride.  
  
Inside the estate, Ojou-sama was different. Totally different. Ojou-sama was soft-spoken, polite, kind. It was to Ojou-sama the servants went to for help of any kind. IT was to Ojou-sama they took to. She loved them as if they were family, as they loved her. Here, Ojou-sama was Tomoyo, the plum blossom. Soft, sweet, pure.  
  
They knew that Tomoyo only hardened her heart to shield herself from the cruelties outside. And they did not like the fact that because of her fire she had to be tied down to a brute.  
  
"Obaasan Miki," Tomoyo called out.  
  
The elderly cook went to her. "Ojou-sama. Be strong."  
  
"I will try," Tomoyo whispered. "Do not worry for me, I can handle myself. Okaa-sama is only being the woman that she is. By the way, she also wants dinner served promptly when the.... guests arrive."  
  
"Yes, Ojou-sama."  
  
"And, obaasan.."  
  
"Yes, lady?"  
  
"Thank you."  
  
----  
  
The lordship's carriage drew closer.   
  
----  
  
Only three words reverberated through thr household. Three words that meant everything.   
  
"They are here."  
  
To Daidouji Sonomi it meant the seal to her daughter's fate.   
  
To the servants it meant their Ojou-sama's breaking.  
  
But to Tomoyo it meant nothing at all.  
  
----  
  
Hiiragizawa Eriol walked in.  
  
----  
  
Tomoyo had imagined a fat, big, lumberjack of a man with red hair and wild eyes and a goatee. Well, someone looking like THAT would command attention and fear, right?  
  
But Hiiragizawa Eriol was none of these things. Hiiragizawa Eriol was pale and well-built and looked every bit the gentleman, with dark blue hair-- how did he wangle that out here in the damned countryside?-- and darker blue eyes.   
  
Eyes of pure steel.  
  
If she didn't hate men so much, she would've found him handsome.  
  
He was quite young, and his gait screamed aristocracy in every way.  
  
Sonomi was smiling in a cat-like way.  
  
Tomoyo was speechless.  
  
----  
  
Lord Eriol Hiiragizawa had expected an exotic beauty, dark, mysterious. This... Kurotori, Tomoyo, whatever her name, was not so. Her beauty was otherwordly. Nearly celestial. Almost ethereal.  
  
Angelic.  
  
But one look into the young woman's eyes betrayed the heavenly beauty. There lay smoldering violet flames of rejection and disdain.  
  
He smiled at her. She blinked and turned away.  
  
He wanted to laugh.  
  
"Welcome," Sonomi said grandly. "The trip was well?"  
  
"It was worth every hardship to come here," Eriol replied, still looking at Tomoyo.  
  
Sonomi smiled. "This is my daughter, Tomoyo."  
  
He moved toward her and bowed.  
  
She only responded with a nod and a tight smile.  
  
Daidouji Ken clapped. "To dinner."  
  
----  
  
"How long shall you be staying, sir?" Sonomi asked.  
  
"I will stay until I have surveyed the lands fully," Eriol answered. "I feel there are many riches in this side of the country, waiting to be explored," he added, looking, again, at Tomoyo.  
  
/I'm not as stupid as to NOT recognize the double meaning in your remarks, SIRE,/ Tomoyo thought. /Have your fun now, I will take revenge later. Survey the land, is it? Don't you mean to survey me?/ She scowled. /Why don't I just strip, right here, in the middle of the dining hall, to have it done and over with?/  
  
"You shall like it here," Sonomi was saying.  
  
Eriol smiled at Tomoyo from across the table. "I do imagine I will."  
  
It took all of Tomoyo's willpower to lunge, fangs and claws bared. A little more willpower prevented a forkful of mashed potatoes flying to his leering face. Oh, the man was maddening. The man was insufferable. The man was... oh, blast and bother, why was she thinking this over dinner?  
  
"Can your daughter not talk, Lady Daidouji?" The Man asked, loudly.  
  
Tomoyo seethed. An eyebrow rose. "I can talk fine, sire," she muttered. "But I find myself with nothing to say at the moment."  
  
"For a whole two hours?" The Man sounded bewildered. "This is not at all what I have heard about you."  
  
Tomoyo bit her tongue. This, was going to be a long night.  
  
----  
  
"Otou-sama, he's HORRIBLE," Tomoyo whined later in the privacy of her room. "I don't LIKE him. Can't I marry someone else? Can't I NOT marry at all?"  
  
Ken ran a hand through his daughter's hair. "He is a rich man, and he can take care of you."  
  
"MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING!" Tomoyo cried. "He's a BRUTE. Do you REALLY want me to MARRY a BRUTE?"  
  
Ken chuckled. "Of course not, chiisa hana. But you don't know him at all. Why not give him a chance?" Ken thought this over. "Or three. Or five."  
  
"Otou-chaaaan."  
  
The father grinned. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, child. It IS your fault, you know. You fashioned yourself to be the Kurotori." Ken frowned at the name. "This is what your mother saw. This is why she chose a man who can 'tame' you." He sighed.   
  
"You know I'm only Kurotori to defend myself," Tomoyo whispered. "And shouldn't you have authority OVER okaa-sama, not UNDER her?"  
  
Ken shook his head. "Your mother has... ways to make me agree to anything she says, and besides," he paused. "Hiiragizawa is a good man."  
  
"It sure doesn't look like that from here," Tomoyo muttered. "I won't be conquered, not by okaa-sama, or that lord."  
  
Ken only smiled at her. He stood up.  
  
As an afterthought, Tomoyo called to her father. He turned.  
  
"Otou-chan... why did you marry okaa-sama?" Tomoyo asked.  
  
Ken looked at his daughter. "It IS true that no force on earth can conquer a woman of Amamiya blood."  
  
"But you did."  
  
"That is because there is ONE force, only one, above all, that can and will conquer any Amamiya."  
  
Tomoyo blinked. ".... Nani?"  
  
Ken placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead.   
  
"Love."  
  
Tomoyo stared at her father as he walked out of her room. /Love?/  
  
Then she stood up and walked over to her balcony, pondering this piece of information.  
  
She turned her head and there was Hiiragizawa on the adjacent window, a maniacal smile on his maniacal face.  
  
Tomoyo drew her curtains sharply. /From THAT hentai? I think NOT./  
  
-tsuzuku-  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
notes: many thanks to circe, for the phrase "blast and bother". i read it in   
"Byron" and i liked it. ^-^  
  
--Ekai Ungson  
http://innocenceneon.blogspot.com 


	3. Heart

legality: CLAMP owns the stuff, and I'm not worthy  
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, and grace, and friendship  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What do you think of the Kurotori?"  
  
"Promising."  
  
-Three: Heart-  
  
"Why must I sacrifice to satisfy you, okaa-sama?" Tomoyo screeched.  
  
"You will sacrifice for the good of this family!" Sonomi yelled.  
  
"I will not marry that lord!" Tomoyo screamed. "I will NOT!"  
  
And she stormed out of the room.  
  
As soon as her daughter was out of earshot, Sonomi clutched at her chest.  
  
The elderly butler rushed to her assistance immediately. "My lady!"  
  
Sonomi closed her eyes. "Tomoyo... I am... only doing this for you..."  
  
----  
  
Tomoyo went runnivng out of the estate in near tears. In her haste she bumped into someone. She recoiled in response.  
  
A strange scent assailed her senses. Something she could not place, but was unerringly familiar.  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
She looked up into eyes of blue steel. She practically jumped back. "I'm all right," she replied. "I have to go."  
  
She ran off, leaving the young lord standing there.  
  
This little incident sparked more interest in Hiiragizawa Eriol. In those violet depths were fear, despair. Some anger. But more... loneliness, was it? The Kurotori was showing more facets each passing day.  
  
Oh, there was the famed fire. She tried to be cold to him, but there was fire in that, too. She was not the daughter of the Flame for just nothing.   
  
And there was the Amamiya temper. She kept it in check, but he knew she wanted to kill him with that flame whenever he pulled the fast ones on he. She hated to lose, and he understood now.  
  
He wanted to understand a little more.  
  
----  
  
Tomoyo sobbed continually on the shoulder of one of the maidservants, Mai, as the others gathered around her.   
  
"Ojou-sama, try not to let it get to you," Mai sai soothingly. "We will all work without pay just to placate your mother."  
  
Tomoyo shot up at that. "No, you can't," she said.  
  
"Ojou-sama, we will do it for you," Obaasan Miki said.  
  
"No, please, no," Tomoyo repeated. "I thank you, but I can't let you do that. I know that my father's estate is almost completely gone. Maybe..." she trailed off. "Maybe I should stop resisting okaa-sama and go along with what she wants."  
  
"Tomoyo-sama, you've no need to sacrifice for us," Mai said.  
  
"You are my family," Tomoyo replied. "You are all I have left, and if this means keeping you all, then I will try and see what I can all do for you. You have served us well since I was a child." She smiled. "I cannot let you down."  
  
----  
  
The logical thing to do was marry the rich lord, the sooner the better, and save her estate and her family from poverty. Her father was weak and he would not live forever.  
  
But she was scared.  
  
Last night her father had said that the one thing that could conquer the fire in her blood was love.  
  
How could she feel love for a total stranger? She barely knew the man. She couldn't just marry.  
  
Oh, but of course she could. Her dreamer's ideals were keeping her, holding out for the one man, that one man, out there.  
  
/Sometimes there is more strength in acquiescing than resistance./  
  
She sighed and turned to the gardens below.  
  
ANd for the second time in a day, met the eyes of the lord that was causing ehr life'd conflict.  
  
They were talking to her, in a voice she surprisingly understood.   
  
/Give me a chance,/ they beseeched.  
  
/I do not know you,/ she tried to reply. /I do not know you./  
  
She fled the balcony in tears.  
  
----  
  
The next day:  
  
"Tomoyo, if you'll go riding with his lordship to survey the lands today.." Sonomi began.  
  
Sonomi needed say no more. Tomoyo had agreed, surprisingly without protest.  
  
The lord held out a hand, and Tomoyo took it.  
  
Sonomi smiled.  
  
----  
  
"You are still just a child."  
  
Tomoyo looked up. "Excuse me?"  
  
Eriol smiled at her. "You. A child."  
  
"I should beg to differ," Tomoyo replied. "All the men in town believe I am ready to marry. One of them in particular."  
  
"Which one?" Eriol asked.  
  
"Let me rephrase that. ALL of them want to marry me, or possess me in some obscure way."  
  
Eriol smirked. "The famed fire of all the Amamiya women," he commented. "A prized commodity, I must say. There have been nights when I,myself, have dreamed and dreaded it." He looked at her. "But you are not yet a woman, Kurotori."  
  
Tomoyo blinked at the mention of the moniker. She shrugged. "I suppose that does not matter. My mother wants me to marry as soon as possible," she said. "To save this land and this estate."  
  
"She wants you to marry me," Eriol said.  
  
Tomoyo nodded slightly, as if this fact was not a big deal.  
  
"So why not marry me, Kurotori?" he asked.  
  
She turned to him abruptly. "What?"  
  
"Marry me," he repeated. "I need a woman to run my house. You need my money to save this estate. A marriage of convenience," he added.  
  
Tomoyo stared. This man was obviously insane. He had no idea what he was presnting himself into. "Like a business deal," Tomoyo murmured.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
She remembered her father in his weak condition, and the servants all out of a job as soon as the last gold coin left the estate.  
  
And she remembered her mother's words.   
  
/You will sacrifice for the good of this family./  
  
She reached a decision.  
  
----  
  
"My lord and lady, I should like to ask for the hand of your daughter in marriage."  
  
Sonomi blinked once before breaking out in a grin. "That was sudden."  
  
"It was a short courtship," Eriol said, tightening his arm around Tomoyo. "Right?"  
  
Tomoyo smiled tightly. "Hai."  
  
Ken looked worried. "Are you sure...?"  
  
Tomoyo nodded. Quickly.  
  
Two days later Eriol and Tomoyo married in a quiet ceremony at home.  
  
There were no guests.  
  
-tsuzuku-  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
notes: aaaack. rushed feeling. bad. bad bad. will deliver better with next chapter. 


	4. Control

legality: CLAMP owns the stuff, and I'm not worthy  
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, and grace, and friendship  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"It does not connotate that although you have married me, you have conquered me."  
  
"... We soon shall see, Kurotori."  
  
-Four: Control-  
  
"You have done well for yourself, Kurotori," Sonomi stated one fine morning.  
  
"Of course I have done well," Tomoyo answered. "I have married to give you what you want. Now I am tied but you have your gold, and that really is all that's important, isn't it, Mother dearest? Soon, I will be out of this house, and you will rejoice in my absence." She looked up at her mother. "Yes, I have done quite well."  
  
Sonomi sneered. "Quite right, my child, quite right. But why you did it astounds me. Your charades in front of your father and I have not fooled me. You feel nothing for the lord."  
  
"I feel nothing for him, yes," Tomoyo replied. "What is it to you?"  
  
"And yet you agreed to marry," Sonomi said. "Of your own volition."  
  
Tomoyo looked away. "I shall not divulge my reasons."  
  
Sonomi shrugged. "Very well, daughter," she said. "I can see it for myself anyway. You are Amamiya. You will not let yourself be conquered." It was an observation. "You have the same hot blood that flows within me."  
  
"No man can control me."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You are exactly the way I was, Kurotori. You will harden yourself against this man in particular and all men in general until one has proven himself worthy of you," Sonomi pronounced. "You, my daughter, are looking for something but are afraid to get hurt. You will be cold until you are touched with truth."  
  
Tomoyo stared at her. "I fear nothing."  
  
"No, child," Sonomi said. "You are strong, but fact is you fear everything you do not understand."  
  
----  
  
"Will you handle me with disdain forever?"  
  
Tomoyo looked up at her not-so-new husband. "I do not disdain you. I'm always like this."  
  
"No, I think not," Eriol argued.  
  
"You married me before you ever got to know me, what do you know?" she asked.  
  
"That you have a beautiful smile."  
  
Tomoyo blinked.  
  
"I do know you Kurotori. I know you and that mask you put up. When you talk to me there is enough fire in your eyes to bring a mansion to ashes. But when you are alone or with the children downstairs, you smile. And your eyes are calm." He looked at her. "You like to take walks at night when you think everyone's asleep. You like flowers, white flowers. And you like to play when you think no one is looking."  
  
"Have you been spying on me?" Tomoyo asked. "You're worse than a private investigator."  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment," Eriol smirked. "And no, I was NOT spying. I was only observing. See, these are things you do when you think no one is around. What you didn't anticipate was me, looking at you."  
  
She stared at him, unsure of what to say to that, then turned back to her book. But she wasn't reading.  
  
Fact was, he was accurate on all counts, and maybe she ought to give him a little bit more credit for it.  
  
"We return to my lands tomorrow," Eriol stated.  
  
She nodded.  
  
He turned to her. "I don't hear you arguing."  
  
She shrugged. "What have I to argue for? You are my husband, it is my duty to follow."  
  
"Husband is merely a title bestowed on me by a piece of paper called a marriage contract," said Eriol. "Someday I will come to mean much more to you."  
  
"And what would much more to me mean, exactly?"  
  
"You'll see."  
  
----  
  
The next morning was tearful, as all the estate's servants went to see their young mistress off. Tomoyo would have given anything to have not gone, but the carriage was out side and her bags were packed but oh, she was going to miss this place, no matter how dismal it seemed, it was home.  
  
She hugged her father first, then went to the servants, who gave her their best wishes. Before she left the house, she passed Sonomi at the doorway.  
  
"Mother," Tomoyo said shortly.  
  
For reasons that still eluded her, Sonomi wrapped her only daughter in her arms that last time. She whispered a few words to her, but Tomoyo did not hear, Eriol was calling, the carriage was waiting, they had to go, NOW.  
  
The carriage rode away, and Sonomi watched as it disappeared into the horizon, her eyes filled not with coldness, not with fire, not even with triumph. They were filled with a resigned sort of happiness.  
  
An hour later, Sonomi died.  
  
Tomoyo never heard the news that she was the last Amamiya female existing on earth.  
  
----  
  
Eriol and Tomoyo arrived at the manor after two days of travel. They were greeted warmly by Eriol's servants.  
  
He showed her a lavish room decorated with dated antiques, famous paintings, a big window, and a balcony facing east.  
  
And a four poster bed.  
  
"This is your room," Eriol said.  
  
"Mine but not yours?" Tomoyo asked.  
  
He nodded towards the left wall. "I'll sleep in the other room."  
  
Her eyes narrowed. "Strange that someone like you refuses to take what is his by right."  
  
He cupped her chin and raised her face to look into her eyes. "Some other time, when you have the heart for it."  
  
She stared up at him, not blinking. "I feel nothing for you."  
  
He smiled. "Not now, but soon," he stated. "I don't believe you are completely heartless."  
  
"And you think I can feel something for you?"  
  
"I believe I can make you fall for me."  
  
Tomoyo scoffed. "We'll see."  
  
"Watch me."  
  
Both, unable to succumb to the other, out of sheer pride.  
  
"You will not conquer me," Tomoyo whispered.  
  
"It is not to conquer you that I want," Eriol replied softly.  
  
"Then I deem you strange," she stated. "That is what all men want to to with me."  
  
He grinned. "I'm not like other men."  
  
-tsuzuku-  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN: Hwee. ^-^ 


	5. Imagine

legality: CCS is property of CLAMP and a certain North American company that will therefore go unnamed. All characters used without permission. "Art & Lies" is by Jeanette Winterson from Vintage Books. Excerpt used also without permission.  
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, grace, and friendship.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What marries me to you? Is it a piece of paper? Then I am not married to you. Is it Church approval? Then I am not married to you. Is it the fact of a bed, the fact of two keys on one lock? Then I am not married to you. Is it the Eye of the Law? Then I am not married to you.  
  
If it is the daily pleasure in your face. If it is the quickening of my spirits at your face, if it is your face I seek when I seek no other, if it is the love of you that is consent, if it is consent to be of the same mind, then let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments."  
  
-- Jeanette Winterson; "Art & Lies"   
  
-Five: Imagine-  
  
She was doing needlework when he entered the library and sat down on the desk by the window with nary a word to her, not even a campy remark nor a double-meaning compliment, which was SO like him. He sat in silence, not even looking at her, which was, in sum, Strange indeed.  
  
She stared as he pulled out a thick sheaf of papers from the drawer and placed them on the desk. Her eyes narrowed. Strange, Very Strange.  
  
He didn't say a word. Only pulled out a quill and ink and bent down to write.  
  
She set aside the needle and thread, still looking at him. Or rather, at the papers.  
  
"You're like a cat, aren't you?" he asked, smirking. "Curious."  
  
She ignored the comment and went to the point. "What is that?"  
  
"A story," he replied.  
  
The curiosity he had mentioned took over. "You write stories?"  
  
"When I have the time for it, yes," he answered.  
  
"What kind?"  
  
He smiled. "Anything that strikes my fancy."  
  
She stood up and moved toward him.   
  
"Would you like to see?" he asked.  
  
She nodded, and he waved a hand over the transcripts. She was on them in a minute.  
  
/"Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess with long black hair that lived in a castle full of hate.  
  
The castle was so black and gloomy that as the princess grew up, she was filled with contempt, too.   
  
She showed the world that she hated it, but inside she really wasn't so angry. When she was alone, she played with the animals that strayed into her garden, as no human was brave enough to do so.  
  
She wasn't angry, she was sad.  
  
But she was afraid to venture outside, because she was scared of the unfamiliarity that was there."/  
  
Tomoyo looked up. "Are you trying to tell me something?"  
  
"What exactly would that be?" Eriol asked innocently.  
  
She turned the page instead.  
  
Blank.  
  
She looked questioningly up at him.  
  
He shrugged. "I've only just started."  
  
She spread her skirts and sat down on the carpet beside his desk. She felt his eyes on her, watching her every move. She looked up at him looking down at her. Then he moved, taking the transcripts with him, and sat down beside her.  
  
"What happens next?" she asked.  
  
He shrugged. "Well, I don't know. What do you want to happen?"  
  
"Why are you asking me?"  
  
"Why do you think I ask you?"  
  
She fell silent.   
  
Tomoyo looked down at her hands. "She might go out. But she got... scared back inside the castle."  
  
"By what?"  
  
"Angry men," she answered. "No, monsters."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They were mad at her for being born the way she was..."  
  
/"The princess went out of the castle's gates for the first time. She was met with a blinding light. But this light was false, as it held monstrous creatures that clawed and picked at her."/  
  
Tomoyo looked at him.  
  
/"She ran back to the castle, never wanting to leave again, no matter how grim the castle was anyway."/  
  
/"Over the years she developed a sort of shell to defend herself from the monsters outside. As she grew older, the farther inside herself she went."/  
  
"Didn't she have anyone to protect her?" Eriol asked.  
  
"No one," she replied. "She had to understand and learn a lot of things by herself. She had to learn to defend herself because no one could."  
  
/Once there lived a princess who was so afraid of the world that she wore a mask to hide her fear.  
  
She showed the world that she was cold, strong, fearless. She never let on that she was shaking inside. Her defense against reality was her ability to act out, as if onstage, everything she was not./  
  
/Once there lived a princess who did not know how to love.  
  
She did not know a lot of things, like to smile, or to laugh genuinely. She only knew cruelty and disdain, for in the castle she lived in, this was all there is.  
  
She only knew to cry./  
  
----  
  
Eriol lay awake that night, the papers still in his hands, now filled with his wife's writing, as if saying, /"here is my life. Read it if you may, and accept it, and maybe you shall understand why and how you are sadly mistaken on about half your assumptions."/  
  
Above all, it said, /"I trust you with this. As you have asked me to."/  
  
She has been so pained, he mused, staring at the papers again. /She does not desrve this much pain, I think./  
  
/"She only knew to cry."/  
  
/I was right to get her out of there,/ he thought. /She deserves none of the suffering she went through from those jealous women outside to her overbearing mother inside./  
  
/She has a lot to learn about the world./  
  
----  
  
"Kurotori."  
  
/Nanda..? Eriol./ Tomoyo pulled the covers over her head. "Leave me alone."  
  
"Wake up, Kurotori."  
  
She opened her eyes for a second. "You've got to be kidding. It's barely light out."  
  
"That's the point."  
  
"I don't want to."  
  
He grinned. "Come on, wake up. Or do you want me to pick you up and carry you?"  
  
"... I dare you," Tomoyo retorted sleepily.  
  
She felt one arm go under her knees and another to support her neck. Then she felt the bed from under her... disappear.  
  
/NANDATTO?!/  
  
Her eyes shot open. He smiled down at her.  
  
"You idiot! Put me down!" she yelled.  
  
He smirked. "Now how did I know that would get your attention?"  
  
"You're an imbecile! I said put me down! NOW!" she screeched.  
  
He set her down on her feet on the floor.  
  
She stood up and smoothed her hair. "This," she said menacingly, "had better be good. What's with waking me up in the middle of the night?"  
  
"It's actually dawn," he corrected.  
  
"Whatever!" she retorted.   
  
"Come on, we're going out," he stated.  
  
"Now?"  
  
"No, later, at around midday. Of course now. Why do you think I woke you up?"  
  
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" she asked.  
  
"Just... grab a robe or something."  
  
She stared at him.  
  
He stared back at her, the look on his face clearly stating 'Well? Hurry up!'  
  
She let out an annoyed sound and grabbed a robe from her head board, muttering foul curses all the while that would have made her father have a heart attack. It also made Eriol think that maybe he hadn't married a duke's daughter after all, but a scullery maid. No one of royal blood would have known have the expletives she'd uttered in a span of less than thirty seconds.  
  
But then again, this was Kurotori.  
  
"Fine, let's go," Tomoyo said, annoyed.  
  
He grinned.  
  
----  
  
He had taken her to a garden somewhere in the back of his mansion.  
  
"It's too dark to see anything," Tomoyo stated plainly.  
  
"Brilliant observation," Eriol teased.  
  
"Oh, do shut up," she said. "I'm cold."  
  
He took off his coat and draped it around her. She looked up, not quite expecting the gesture. She mumbled a "thanks".  
  
"What do you exactly want me to see?" she asked.  
  
"If I told you, I'd spoil it. Just wait."  
  
She let out another annoyed huff.   
  
"You don't exactly like to be kept waiting, do you?" he asked, smirking, trying very hard no to laugh at her impatience.  
  
She huffed again.  
  
The sun began to rise in the east, and he smiled.  
  
"You wanted me to see the sunrise?" she asked. "I can see that just as well from my room."  
  
He shook his head. "Something else. Look around, please."  
  
She looked.  
  
And was appropriately stupefied.  
  
Multitude upon multitude of flowers were opening up from buds to blooms, spreading their petals to the sky as if in greeting. Brilliant splotches of color opened up against a vivd green background. Tomoyo's eyes widened. "Mahou de."  
  
He shook his head. "Mahou nai."  
  
Her breath caught in her throat, she went to kneel in the middle of the meadow, clutching his coat to her as she did so. A smile lit up her face, and he realized that he hadn't seen that smile on her, ever, since arriving here.  
  
He had known this would work, somehow bring her out, somehow make her happy. For her, so used to cruelty and negativity, sorrow more than joy, simple signs that life existed on earth was completely new to her.  
  
And as he watched as she rushed to see the flowers up close, breathless with excitement, hair in a disheveled braid, eyes shining, nightgown ballooning around her, he could safely say that she was the most beautiful woman on earth.  
  
He knelt down beside her. "Ohayou."  
  
She turned to him with shining eyes, clutching a purple iris to her chest, a contrast against her white dress, and the same color as her eyes. "Arigatou," she whispered. "Arigatou gozaimasu."  
  
He nodded, smiling.  
  
Now he could say that he knew her.  
  
-tsuzuku-  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
AN: "Mahou de" should mean "It's magic". If it's not, correct me, I made that phrase up. And "Mahou nai" means "No magic" or "It's not magic". Eeep.   
  
Anyway. Varon! Dahling! Email me, won't you! I want to know how you've been doing.  
  
Also, to everyone else, I'm conducting a poll. Which unfinished fic do you want Ekai to finish first? The one with most votes will get a proper ending soon, and I mean SOON. I'm having trouble prioritizing my life.  
  
AND! Which fic do you want Ekai to make a sequel for?   
  
I'm waiting, people! ^-^ 


	6. Blue

legality: see previous chapters for full disclaimer.   
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, grace, and friendship.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Whisper to my soul. It is so temporary, life, and the ideas that form it are spirit, not flesh. The best of me is not my body. The best of me is not the frame of bones, skin decorated, that delights in the delicate landscape where the trees slant out of the hill."  
  
-- Jeanette Winterson; "Art & Lies"  
  
-Six: Blue-  
  
"And here I thought someone like you, granted your... reputations, would be able to take in a bottle of liquor," Tomoyo said. "I was SO wrong." She let out a groan as she heaved Eriol onto his bed.  
  
"You don't know a lot of things about me," came the slurred reply of her husband.   
  
"Yet if you knew that you really couldn't, why didn't you just say so outright instead of trying to outdrink me?" she asked.  
  
"Honor," Eriol replied quite simply.  
  
An eyebrow rose.  
  
"I needed to prove to you that I was a virile, capable man," he continued.  
  
"All you did prove to me is that you are a boastful swill," she retorted smartly. "Now shut up and get some sleep. You'll be all right in the morning," she paused. "I think."  
  
"How come... you can?" Eriol asked.  
  
Tomoyo sighed. "I'm the daughter of Flame. I have hot blood. It burns out of me faster." She began taking off his shirt.  
  
Eriol groaned.  
  
"Oh, positively. You're drunker than... than anyone I've ever seen drunk in my life! You will have such a nasty hangover in the morning that it'll be a surprise to see you stand at all tomorrow--"  
  
"Oh, and of course you, being the very strongest of women, have seen many, many drunk men."  
  
"Yes, indeed I have," she replied. "Hush now, go to sleep."  
  
When her fingers caught the last button, he grabbed her hands. "Thank you."  
  
She bent down and planted a kiss on his lips impulsively. "You have nothing to thank me for."  
  
"What about that?" he grinned insolently. "Maybe I should... get drunk a lot more often."  
  
"Shut up," she replied. She reached up to ruffle his hair and turned to leave. He was out like a light within seconds.  
  
A corner of a transcript caught her eye from underneath his bed. She bent down and picked it up.  
  
/"Once there lived a boy--/  
  
She smiled. Stories! She sat down on the floor and leaned back against the side of his bed. She read on.  
  
/"Once there lived a boy who lived all alone.  
  
He was poor and without money. He had no past, and an even bleaker future. He stole to live, pickpocketed and gambled to somehow try to survive in the world he'd found himself thrust into.  
  
He was poor, but many found him beautiful. So when he was too hungry to steal or do much of anything, he engaged in an activity called "soul-selling"."/  
  
Tomoyo's breath caught in her throat. /Eriol...?/  
  
/"Many people came to see him, because of his beautiful blue hair, his dark eyes. Many men paid to possess him.  
  
And they paid greatly. They paid him with coins of gol and silver, trinkets, jewels of any colour and size. They paid him with precious stones set in rare minerals. They gave everything to have him to themselves. The men were rich and influential.  
  
And have him they did, in exchange for the material riches. Some of them even went to such extents as to tell empty promises and glittering lies. They promised him love and friendship.  
  
They were liars.  
  
He was still alone.  
  
An elderly man found the boy wandering the streets one day and was entranced with his beauty. The old man took him in and educated him, trained him to inherit the old man's estate when he died.  
  
This was what the world saw, but other things went on behind closed doors, behind drawn drapes.  
  
Surrounded with all the lavishness of the world, the boy was always alone, without someone to turn to."/  
  
The story was long. It chronicled a span of years of pain, hardship, little joy in the face of many luxuries.   
  
Tomoyo read on, well past midnight, straight 'til dawn. Each word dripped sorrow. Each sentence evoked a pain deep within her. Each paragraph he had written down was a testament to sadness, deep sadness, of a lonely boy used for pleasure by a world that knew nothing but its own pleasure.  
  
The last page had only a sentence.  
  
/"One day, the boy found a beautiful black bird, and he didn't feel alone at all."/  
  
There was nothing after that.  
  
Tomoyo was crying as she returned the papers to where they originally were. Then she went to sit at the edge of Eriol's bed and stare at him with blurred vision.  
  
/Am I the one that makes you happy?/ she asked. /Am I the one you need? Is that why you keep on putting up with me, no matter how I try to push you away?/  
  
/You are so strong. You are scarred all over and yet you still manage to take in all the wounds I inflict at you. You are scarred all over but you were brave enough to face these images and put them down on paper.  
  
I do not know you. But I think I do, I know all there is to know about you./  
  
She cried there, tears shed for him and for herself, because he never gave in for his pain, he never gave in to his sorrow.  
  
She wept on his behalf.  
  
/I thought I was alone, all these years I lived inside the shadows of a castle of hate.  
  
I thought I was the saddest person alive.  
  
But here is a man who has been through more pain than I, and yet refused to cry.  
  
Eriol.  
  
My Eriol./  
  
When morning light seeped through the windows, a princess with long black hair lay entwined in the arms of a poor, lonely boy, for the first time.  
  
----  
  
Eriol opened his eyes slowly and felt a warm hand on his chest, a woman's body in his arms.  
  
He looked down, still groggy, to see a dark head buried in his shoulder.  
  
Holy. This was no ordinary woman. This was...  
  
/Kurotori?/  
  
He moved. A soft voice groaned. "Iie."  
  
"Kurotori?" he asked softly. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Sleeping," came the muffled, obvious reply. "Don't wake me up."  
  
"Kurotori," Eriol tried again. "It's past seven. I have to... go work. Stay here. You sleep."  
  
"Iie," she repeated. "Shut up. You are in no capacity whatsoever to work. Don't you feel a throbbing on the side of your head, as if it were going to explode? Forget trying to work today. You can't."  
  
It was true, his head WAS throbbing. But he had to get out. He HAD to. He had responsibilities to attend to.  
  
"How about being a responsible husband to me today?" she asked. She clutched at him. "Stay here. Stay with me."  
  
He smiled. "Why do you want me so close all of a sudden?"  
  
"Don't ask me questions like that now," she whined. "You're making my brain function. I still want to sleep."  
  
"Kurotori..."  
  
"Eriol..."  
  
He started. She'd said his name. Not only that, she'd said his name differently. Not with a commanding tone, and not harsh at all. Softly. Pleadingly.  
  
"Don't argue with me," she admonished softly. "Or else you'll be really sorry when I'm fully awake."  
  
He dropped a kiss on her hair. "Remarkable. You can still threaten while you're sleepy."  
  
"Hush, go back to sleep and let me sleep."  
  
"... Just now, I don't feel like going to sleep at all," he said. "I might wake up and you might not be here. That this was a dream."  
  
"You're being maudlin." But he felt her smile against his skin.  
  
"Am I?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," she answered. "Kisama. Now I'm awake."  
  
"Are you going to leave?" he asked.  
  
"... Just now," she began. "I don't feel like leaving."  
  
He smiled. "You are beautiful."  
  
"But empty?" she prodded.  
  
He kissed her hair again. "No. Jus beautiful."  
  
-tsuzuku-  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
NOTES: Take Ekai's Ultra Special Fic Quiz! Go to http://innocenceneon.blogspot.com and click the link to the quiz! Quizzer with most points win gift. Niiiiice gift. Also, Varon, sorry about thy phone! Awwww.  
  
Anyone with a cellular phone can now contact Ekai through SMS! The number is 09165151269. Text her with anything, fic requests, fic reviews, or even just to say hi!  
  
Later days! ^-^ 


	7. Bound

legality: see previous chapters for full disclaimer.   
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, grace, and friendship.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Husband is merely a title placed upon me by an insignificant piece of paper called a marriage contract. A marriage contract is quite simply only a piece of paper binding me to you."  
  
"... Somehow I think you've got a point somewhere in there only I'm failing to see it at the moment."  
  
"Remember I told you someday I would come to mean so much more to you?"  
  
"Yes, and so?"  
  
"Remember I told you I could make you fall in love with me?"  
  
"Yes, and so?"  
  
"Well, have you?"  
  
".... Maybe."  
  
-Seven: Bound-  
  
"Kurotori, look what I got for you."  
  
Tomoyo turned. "And what might this-- oh!"  
  
Eriol was wearing a smile and clutching a bouquet of every blossom imaginable on his hand. He had on his favorite "cat-and-cream" expression, which Tomoyo loved to hate, and hated to love. She held out her hands eagerly. "For me? You're so sweet."  
  
He held up a finger. "You get the flowers if I get a proper kiss."  
  
She raised her chin. "You get the kiss if you give me the flowers."  
  
"If I give you the flowers you'll run away to escape, I know you," he stated.   
  
"Then that's not my fault any longer, love," she shrugged.  
  
He sighed, as if it couldn't be helped. "All right then. I'm going to give you these flowers AND dinner outside tonight if you give me a proper kiss."  
  
"Are you bribing me, Hiiragizawa-sama?" Tomoyo teased. "I can't be bought like that, you know. If you really want me you'd better be pulling out the big guns by now."  
  
"Flowers, dinner, and a dress from anywhere. Money is no object," Eriol tried.  
  
"Just ONE dress?"  
  
"All right, two," Eriol sulked. "I work damn hard for that money. You might as well."  
  
Tomoyo thought for a moment. ".. No, still no."  
  
"TOMOYO!"  
  
She smiled saucily at him. "I may be easy, but I'm most certainly not cheap!"   
  
"I'll say," Eriol groaned. "Can you blame me for trying?"  
  
"Excuses, excuses," Tomoyo stated, turning her back on him.  
  
"Come on. You get the flowers, the dinner, the dresses, and a story from me for one kiss," he said.   
  
Tomoyo smiled. "No, really?"  
  
"You drive the hardest bargain I know, lady," he mock-growled. "Even the merchants in town can never haggle to me the way you do."  
  
"TWO stories," she said, turning back to him and holding up two fingers.  
  
He gave her a pained expression. She laughed outright.  
  
"You've got to be joking," Eriol moaned.  
  
"Most definitely not," Tomoyo replied. "Two stories and everything you promised earlier, or nothing doing."  
  
"But that'll take all night and I won't be able to go to work tomorrow!"  
  
She shrugged again. "So pick one."  
  
He held out the bouquet. "I give."  
  
She grabbed the flowers with a triumphant smile and threw her arms around him.  
  
"Kurotori--" he murmured against her lips. "I think--"  
  
"You think, what?" she prompted. "Oh, gosh. That MIGHT just be dangerous, you thinking and all," she laughed.  
  
"Be serious," he commanded.  
  
"I AM serious," she retorted. "You think, what?"  
  
"I think I'm in love with you."  
  
She stiffened and pulled away abruptly. "Don't joke like that."  
  
He tightened his grip on her. "I'm sure as hell not joking."  
  
She stared at him. He wasn't joking.  
  
"You think?" she managed after a few seconds.   
  
"All right, I know," he supplemented, "that I'm in love with you. Definitely. Absolutely, positively, one hundred and one percent, without a doubt--"  
  
She cut him off. "One of those will do," she smiled.  
  
"That's it?" he stared at her.  
  
"What's it?"  
  
"No reply? No answer? No nothing?" he asked.  
  
She smiled at him. "You were expecting one?"  
  
"You're hopeless!" he groaned. "Here I am, baring out my heart and soul to you, to YOU, and you have nothing to say on the matter?!"  
  
"I'm... flattered?" she tried, still wearing that infuriating smile, as if she knew EXACTLY what she wanted and she wasn't giving it to him until she deemed it all right.  
  
"Try harder," he said, and his arm tightened even more around her waist that it was a struggle for her to breathe.  
  
"And... happy?"   
  
"Obviously, darling, you're having a lot of fun with me today."  
  
She giggled. "All right. I THINK I love you, too. Now will you let me go, please?"  
  
"You THINK?"  
  
"I think," she repeated. "Let me go now, Eriol. I have to go change. You did promise me a night out." She smiled smugly at him, and he didn't know whether to kiss her or smack her. He made do with the former.  
  
But he wouldn't let her go. "Not without an answer," he said firmly.   
  
"In that case we might as well stay here all night," she sighed. "Sometimes, Eriol, you're really very silly."  
  
"What's so silly about wanting an answer from you?" he asked. "Will you marry me if I asked?"  
  
She laughed. "See, exactly that. We ARE married. Or don't you remember?"  
  
His eyes went blank on her, and she laughed harder.   
  
"We are, aren't we?" he murmured. "These days I feel like I've been courting you forever."  
  
"Stressed much?" she asked, looking up at him.  
  
"Not at all," he replied, leaning in to touch noses with her. "Never when it's you."  
  
Tomoyo stood on tiptoe and touched his lips briefly with hers. Which was effective enough to make his arms go lax and she could finally twist away from him.   
  
"I'll see you later, Eriol," she said.  
  
And as she walked up the stairs to her room to change she thought that this whole marriage thing to Eriol hadn't all been that bad after all.  
  
----  
  
"Why, for the love of God, are you staring at me like that?"  
  
Eriol grinned. "Does it bother you?"  
  
"No," Tomoyo replied. "But it's like you're thinking very bad thoughts about me when you look like that and it's quite scary, honestly." She giggled.  
  
"Wench," he growled. "Unbelievable, inconceivable, absolute, total,"  
  
"Beautiful," Tomoyo supplied.  
  
"Beautiful," Eriol said. Then he stopped and glared at her, and maybe he'd have looked believable if his eyes weren't full of laughter.  
  
She smiled innocently at him. Then a misty look came over her eyes, as if she were viewing him differently. He noticed.  
  
"Something wrong?" he asked.  
  
She hesitated. Would he... should she... he might, she thought, get hurt, very hurt, if she asked this of him.   
  
But she wanted to know. Needed to, even.  
  
"Tell me who you are," she said softly.  
  
He stared at her in confusion.   
  
"I know nothing about you, you've told me stories, all about myself and your life. But you never told me about you," she said.  
  
"... What do you want to know?"  
  
".... Everything."  
  
----  
  
/"I won't lie to you, Kurotori. I wasn't born rich. I only inherited all this money from a man who adopted me."  
  
But I'm getting too far ahead of myself. I'll start at the beginning."  
  
"My earliest memories would include an orphanage and outright starvation. There were too many kids in the poorhouse and too little money to feed all of us, plus our number grew about every ten minutes. A lot of unwanted kids in those days. I ran out when I had enough sense to, and I never looked back. I think I was about five then.  
  
I got mixed up with a group of outcast pickpockets who taught me to steal to survive. I was on the run most of the time. No time for play, vicious cycle, that was. Steal, eat. Sleep where my feet took me. Exhausted. Then run. And keep running."  
  
"I didn't have a permanent home. I slept in alleyways and abandoned buildings. If I got lucky there were barns that were forgotten to be locked. Really lucky when it rained and I had a roof of sorts over my head."/  
  
He took a deep breath and she knew what was coming next.  
  
/"Like I said. I won't lie to you. I won't hide anything from you.  
  
One day when I turned eleven this man came up to me and said he wouls give me lots of money if I went with him. I did.  
  
The guy was some sort of pimp. I was sold for an hour at three gold coins. I'll never forget that day."/  
  
His voice broke.  
  
She grabbed his hand, her own shaking. "You don't have to tell me anything more if it's only going to hurt you."  
  
He shook his head. "No. I want you to know."  
  
/"The hunger was overpowering. Sometimes it got so bad I thought I'd die. Those days I went to the pimp's and all I had to do was lie there for a few minutes and I wouldn't be so hungry anymore. I figured it was a good enough bargain."/  
  
She stared at him and watched his eyes go into a whole world of pain.   
  
And she felt her heart squeezing in her chest painfully.  
  
It hurt to see him hurt.  
  
/"Soon I figured doing... that... was easier than stealing. Never mind that I felt so... black afterwards. It meant that I wouldn't have to starve anymore.   
  
A lot of them came. People told their friends, who told their friends, who told their friends. I was servicing twenty people by the time I was eighteen. They gave me beautiful things aside from the money. They gave me silk and clothes and gold. I think they were bribes, because I had succeeded an almost clinical detachment when I dealt with them all.   
  
I felt nothing. Not even hate. I guess I'd been too alone for so long that such feelings had long been numbed to me.  
  
And then one of them decided to take me in and adopt me. He trained me, educated me, in exchange for...."/  
  
Her hand tightened on his. He squeezed back.  
  
/"In exchange for... my services. When he died, I inherited everything. That's how I became a duke.  
  
I thought I'd long been numbed to feel, love, or anger, or wonder. I thought wrong.  
  
See, when I met you, Kurotori, I felt something from deep in me resurface."/  
  
He smiled at her.  
  
"You saved me."  
  
----  
  
She was crying. Reading it had been different. Him saying it, relating the whole thing to her, she KNEW it hurt him, more than anything, more than her insults. But he told her. He told her all.  
  
Did he love her that much?  
  
She stood up from her chair and settled herself in his lap instead, burying her face in his neck. His hands went up to entangle themselves in her hair.   
  
"Do you want to hear a story?" she asked. "It's about this princess who fell in love with the most beautiful man on earth..."  
  
He stiffened. "You still..? After I told you--"  
  
She looked up at him. "Why didn't you cry for yourself, ever?" she asked. "I have to cry for you. I need to."  
  
"But--"  
  
"Do you think I'd care?" she asked. She turned and her hair created a curtain around them. "I want to give you the whole world..." she whispered. "I want to be able to give you everything you want, anything you want, because you've had so very little..."  
  
"Kurotori..."   
  
She stared into his eyes.   
  
"Kurotori, don't do this for me out of pity," he said. "I'd hate that..."  
  
"This isn't pity, Eriol," she replied. "This is love. The whole lot of it. My love. And you can have it all."  
  
"Kurotori..." it was a plea.  
  
She met his lips.   
  
"It's Tomoyo."  
  
-tsuzuku- 


	8. Heat

legality: see previous chapters for full disclaimer.   
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, grace, and friendship.  
  
oh! And. Steer clear, Kaho fans. I'm gonna do something you might not like. Eep.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Visitors?"  
  
"Just the one. She's coming today."  
  
"... She?"  
  
"Jealous much?"  
  
"You DO wish."  
  
-Eight: Heat-  
  
"Nana, what do you know about this Mizuki-san who's coming over today?"   
  
The head maid turned to her mistress sharply. "Who's coming over today, Tomoyo-sama?"  
  
"Mizuki-san, I think, that's what Eriol told me," Tomoyo replied. "Why?"  
  
The old woman's brow crinkled.   
  
"Something wrong in what I said, Nana?" Tomoyo asked. "You look very disturbed."  
  
"This is not good," Nana groaned.  
  
"Not good?" Tomoyo repeated.   
  
Nana shook her head. The servant considered Tomoyo more than just a mistress now, but a daughter. She had to warn the mistress against... that woman.  
  
"Mizuki-sama is a descendant of the Queen. She has known Eriol-sama for years. She has alos been after him for quite some time."  
  
"After him...?"  
  
"To make him marry her, Tomoyo-sama. She is in love with him. Maybe even out of her mind for him."  
  
"After... my husband?" Tomoyo paused, incredulous and than she began to laugh and laugh. "Someone was actually obsessed enough with Eriol that she WANTED to marry him?" She continued to laugh.  
  
"This is not a laughing matter, Tomoyo-sama!" Nana warned. "That woman is DANGEROUS. She can do terrible things. You MUST be careful of her."  
  
"Tomoyo!" Eriol called from somewhere in the house.  
  
Tomoyo turned. "Nana, you needn't worry about such things, ne?" she said. "I am, after all, the infamous Kurotori. I can take care of myself." And with that. she ran off to answer to the calls of her husband.  
  
"I most certainly hope so, Tomoyo-sama," Nana murmured. "I certainly hope so."  
  
----  
  
Tomoyo rounded a corner and a strong arm caught her by the waist.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" Eriol whispered in her ear.  
  
"To you. Where else? You were the one calling," she replied. "What now?"  
  
He pouted visibly. "Are you sick of me? Don't you love me anymore?"  
  
"I've never said I loved you," Tomoyo retorted saucily. "But then of course you already know I do, so what the hell. Is that all? You just wanted to hear me profess my undying love for you?"  
  
He smiled. "Basically, yes. But now that you're here I can think of a few other things we CAN do..."  
  
Tomoyo raised an eyebrow. "Shut up, you hentai, you. It's broad daylight, if you haven't noticed--"  
  
"So what about broad daylight?"  
  
She stared at him firmly. "It's broad daylight and I have things to attend to. I have..." Her eyes dulled.  
  
"Something wrong?" Eriol asked.  
  
"I'm... worried." she answered honestly.  
  
"What about?"   
  
"That... guest of yours coming over."  
  
Eriol smirked. "Has Nana been telling you things again?"  
  
"Nana has never been proven wrong. Ever." Tomoyo argued.   
  
He kissed her cheek. "I believe we've talked about this already. Whatever past I have with Kaho is..." he sighed. "--exactly that. Past. You have nothing to worry about in matters of her and me. It's over."  
  
"Very well, Eriol," Tomoyo replied. "All right, can I go now?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"'Cause I want to get back to Nana."  
  
"You're still suspicious?" he asked.  
  
"You self-absorbed baka. What makes you think I'm not asking Nana how to cook that dish you keep asking for, that roast beef whatever?" she asked. "My world doesn't revolve around you."  
  
"It doesn't?" he sounded positively deflated.  
  
She kissed him quickly. "All right. It does," she admitted. "Are you happy now?"  
  
"More so," he replied definitely. "I love you."  
  
"I know."  
  
----  
  
She had flames for hair and crimson eyes that burned with controlled disdain.  
  
If Tomoyo wasn't born and bred Kurotori she would've wanted to run and hide under the nearest bush. This Mizuki woman looked capable of spewing volcano lava, and she looked very well ready to murder Tomoyo at the first chance she could.  
  
/Jealous much?/  
  
It was a good thing Tomoyo knew she could do much, much worse.  
  
"Eriol," the woman said, moving toward Tomoyo's husband.   
  
It took all of Tomoyo's willpower not to lunge a cat and jump in between them.  
  
"Kaho," Eriol greeted.  
  
Tomoyo waited.  
  
"This is my wife, Tomoyo," Eriol said.  
  
Tomoyo smiled as best as she could. Which wasn't so hard. She rather liked being Eriol's WIFE.  
  
Mizuki turned to her. "I never got an invitation to your wedding. When I heard about it, I was shocked."  
  
"It was a rather short courtship," Tomoyo replied. /And, it wasn't a wedding enough in the first place./  
  
"It's nice to meet you," Mizuki said.  
  
"And you," Tomoyo replied. Somehow, the words rang with much foreboding.  
  
----  
  
"You're being uncharacteristically silent," Eriol observed in bed later, hugging Tomoyo close to him. "Anything wrong?"  
  
Tomoyo only answered with a soft 'hmm' that sounded as if it came from the very deepest depths of her heart. And he knew then that something was bothering her. He didn't like it when anything bothered her. He promised himself, promised that he would do anything and everything to make her be as happy as possible. Maybe if the sun somehow bothered her by shining he'd somehow block it out of the sky. "Something IS wrong," he said. "Come now, tell me."  
  
"Hmm," Tomoyo mumbled again. "It's nothing really, Eriol."  
  
"It's not nothing," he answered. "I know. I feel it."  
  
She breathed deeply and then asked, "Did you love her?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Mizuki."  
  
He couldn't answer.  
  
"You did," Tomoyo concluded, her voice falling.  
  
He took her hand and kissed it. "I did," he admitted. "Or at least, I think so," he amended. "But that's all in the past now." He smiled against her skin. "I love you now."  
  
"Will you promise me?" she whispered.  
  
"Anything," he replied.  
  
She turned and looked at him. "Promise me you will love no one else but me."  
  
He held her tighter. "For all eternity. I will love only you."  
  
She smiled. And she went to sleep in his arms, secure of his word.  
  
----  
  
"I heard he bought you for twenty bars of gold."  
  
Tomoyo looked up from her flowers to see Mizuki staring down at her in contempt.  
  
"Didn't take you very long at all to reveal your true colors, ne?" Tomoyo asked absently.  
  
"You have no right to talk to me like that. I'm a descendant of the Queen. And what are you, an expensive harlot?"  
  
"Very expensive," Tomoyo agreed. "He happened to buy me for a hundred bars of gold, love, and he's still buying me anything I ask of him." She smiled sweetly. "Shall that be all?"  
  
'He's MINE, Daidouji. So stay away from him," the woman was spouting venom.  
  
"He's my hisband, if you don't know. The contract is legitimate. You can see it for yourself," Tomoyo retorted. "And he loves ME."  
  
"He loved me first and he'll love me again. That's why I'm here," Mizuki threatened. "Just you wait."  
  
/Oh, I'll wait,/ Tomoyo thought as the woman stalked away. /It'll give me much great pleasure to see you bomb./  
  
----  
  
She held up a palmful of soapy water in her hand and smiled as the sun created rainbow patterns on the surface and the bubbles.  
  
The door to the bath opened and Eriol walked in. She looked up.  
  
"I swear, don't you knock?" Tomoyo asked in a 'tsking' voice. He laughed at her. "Wait," she said. "You're leaving?"  
  
He kneeled beside the tub and dropped a kiss on her nape. "Just for a few hours. I have business out at the town."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Land grants."  
  
"Again?" she whined. "But you did that last week." Last week he'd been out all day everyday and she missed him so much. It had been worse because Mizuki was always prowling around. She didn't like feeling that way. Mizuki sent her so many dagger-eyed stares that she always felt like a pincushion at the end of the day.  
  
"You know I have to make a living for us both," he said. Then he grinned. "The way you spend my money is outlandish to a point."  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "I don't ask for that stuff. You buy it for me."  
  
"Because you're so, so beautiful," he replied. With one last kiss, he left, and she knew as she watched him that nothing, not a scheming past lover nor his past in general would keep her away from him. Absolutely nothing could come between them.  
  
Or so she thought.  
  
Two days later Tomoyo walked into their bedroom after walking in the gardens carrying a bouquet of flowers. "Eriol, I--"  
  
The blooms fell to the floor with a dull sound.  
  
Kaho had made true her threat.  
  
There, on her bed, were Mizuki Kaho and Eriol.  
  
Arms around each other.  
  
Half-naked.  
  
-tsuzuku- 


	9. Smolder

legality: see previous chapters for full disclaimer.   
  
Masquerade  
by Ekai Ungson  
  
for Luna, in gratitude for created beauty, grace, and friendship.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What in HELL--?!"  
  
-Nine: Smolder-  
  
From the looks of things, well, there was nothing much Tomoyo could derive from how the damned thing LOOKED but it was pretty damn bad.   
  
She stood there, stunned, unable to move. She couldn't seem to find her voice. She stared at Kaho, who looked like an all-too-satisfied cat.   
  
The Amamiya flames rose up to Tomoyo's eyes. The Kurotori was ready to commit first-degree homicide. She was ready to rip Kaho's face off her head! The goddamn woman had the audacity to smirk. For good reason, Tomoyo thought from a far place in the back of her head.  
  
"Tomoyo--"  
  
Tomoyo turned to her infidel of a husband and found her voice, finally. "My name is Kurotori," she said in a controlled voice, emphasizing her name. "And you could at *least* lock the doors when you decide to do such things," she spat coldly.   
  
With that, she turned on her heel and stalked off.  
  
Eriol began putting his clothes on in a haphazard fashion, wanting to catch up with his wife, who heard enter the room for the opposite side of the hall. Her old room.  
  
"Black bird, eh?" Kaho murmured. "Looked more like an angry tigress to me."  
  
"Damn you, Kaho," Eriol spat. "I'll deal with you and your machinations later. Now I suggest you pack and get out of my house." He then moved off the bed and followed Tomoyo.  
  
Indeed, how the hell was he going to explain this to her? She had seen something that was certainly damning to him. Never mind that it wasn't his goddamn fault.  
  
But it WAS his bloody fault. Because he let himself get carried away. He let his lust get the best of him. /I am a stupid, stupid man,/ Eriol thought as he reached Tomoyo's door. He was surprised to see than it wasn't locked.  
  
"Tomoyo--" he began.  
  
"What in hell was that?" she yelled.  
  
He winced. "Look--"  
  
"Damn it, Eriol, what do you want me to see that I haven't already seen?" she spat. "You have the gall to tell me you love me, but why the hell were you in bed with her--" she stared him up and down "--in a VERY compromised position at that."  
  
"It's not what you--"  
  
"It's not what I think? Not what I goddamn think?! I know--" Tomoyo glared at him "--what I saw!" She waved a hand at herself. "Isn't THIS enough for you?"  
  
"Tomoyo, please--"  
  
Driven by rage, hellfire, anger, jealousy, and a desire to prove herself far better than any other woman, she lunged at him and pressed her lips to his.  
  
Shocked to the core, he stiffened against her.  
  
She broke off. "Tell me she can give you that!"  
  
He couldn't answer.  
  
She lunged again.  
  
In the back of Eriol's mind he wondered how Tomoyo's fragile frame could effectively pin him to the wall as she was. He knew he could push her away, had to push her away, she was out of her mind!- but he was drawing back as if he might be burned there.  
  
He scarcely realized that he HAD pushed Tomoyo, just enough to un-pin himself from the wall and was making his way to the bed, pushing her down on it.  
  
As for Tomoyo, driven by the fire of her mother, she saw that her spell was completed. She smiled triumphantly as Eriol pressed his lips to her neck, his breathing ragged, desperate.  
  
/Yes, desperate, my love, aren't you?/ she thought cruelly. He was caught. He would no longer be able to resist now. She could control him as she pleased.  
  
Her mother had taught her all these things, how to drive a man insane by mixing lust and rage. How to control them by giving them their basest desires, and then...  
  
Breaking them.  
  
"You are mine," Tomoyo whispered as he struggled with the stays of her dress. "You are mine and only mine."  
  
He heard her. He heard her but he didn't comprehend her. There was nothing more important than this, nothing more beautiful than she was. She was the whole world and if he didn't get what he wanted NOW, he would go bloody mad.   
  
There was nothing else anywhere in the world.  
  
She felt his fingers tug on her hair and knew that she was winning.   
  
"To... moyo..." he groaned as she pressed her lips to his. She drew back sharply.   
  
"Tell me who is most beautiful," she demanded.  
  
"You... are..." he whispered.   
  
"Say it!"  
  
"You... are most beautiful..."  
  
She tugged at his shirt. "Who do you belong to?"  
  
"I belong to you," he replied, dazed. "I belong only to you."  
  
And she laughed, laughed, victorious.  
  
----  
  
When Eriol came to his senses later, he found himself lying on his back in a mass of pillows and messed sheets. The sun was just setting, he could see it from the windows.  
  
He looked around, trying to remember where he was and what happened. He looked up and found Tomoyo pulling herself off the bed, covered only with a white sheet.  
  
"What... happened?" he asked.  
  
She turned to him and tossed her magnificent hair. "You, my love, have succumbed to the flames that have made the women of my family famous," she replied. "All of you men are exactly the same. Just like my mother said."  
  
"I'm not like other men," Eriol replied fiercely.  
  
"Oh, like bloody hell you're not," Tomoyo said, her voice cheerfully mocking. "You did what all men are expected to do. Succumb to the pleasures of the flesh, no matter if there is no heart in it." She picked up her dress from the floor. "Lust consumes you, doesn't it? With me or with Kaho. You have no control."  
  
"It seemed real," he said. "Real heart, real love."  
  
/That's because it was,/ Tomoyo thought. /It was love. Love mixed with rage and anger but nevertheless boundless love. I cannot hate you. I do not hate you./ "You can believe what you want to believe. All I know is that there was no love there, Eriol. Nothing but pure, sinful lust. And you, unable to grasp reality that you have failed to acknowledge my control over you."  
  
"Tomoyo--"  
  
"I am Kurotori," she said coldly. "And I never want to see you again."  
  
----  
  
The bags were packed early the next morning, and she held true to her threat of not seeing him again. She stayed out of his way.  
  
To say that he attempted to win her back was an understatement. He went all-out. He bought things, big things, beautiful things. He presented them all to her.  
  
But she would not listen. Love couldn't be bought. It was given away.   
  
That morning he stayed at the garden directly below her balcony, staring up, wanting a glimpse of her, for what might very well be the last time.  
  
He knew now that no matter how he tried she would not be stopped.   
  
All because of fifteen infinitesimal seconds that created a pivotal change of heart.  
  
She walked out to her balcony, looking for things she might leave. From there she saw him below her, frozen, unmoving.  
  
Then he turned to look up at her and she felt the intensity of those eyes full of pain. She drew a breath in sharply.  
  
/One more chance, my love. It's all I'll ask./  
  
She didn't answer the unspoken plea.  
  
"Tomoyo-sama, your carriage has arrived," said the maid.  
  
/One night not so long ago, you were asking for one chance as well,/ she told him. /I have given you that chance and you failed./  
  
"Tomoyo-sama?"  
  
/If you truly loved me you would never have strayed./  
  
"Tomoyo-sama?"  
  
/You told me you weren't like them. You were lying./  
  
She closed her eyes and turned sharply away. Then she took her gloves and walked out of the room.  
  
As she walked out the front door, she turned her head to see him from the gardens, looking at her.  
  
She paused.  
  
"Tomoyo," he whispered.  
  
A lone tear fell across his cheek.  
  
/No,/ Tomoyo thought. I am not going to go to you. I am not going to make you all right. You lied to me, you lied to me.   
  
She turned away, breaking the contact.  
  
When she got inside the carriage, the tears came falling down.   
  
/But I love you.../  
  
-tsuzuku- 


	10. Left

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

DISCLAIMER: please see previous chapters for full disclaimer.

For Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

A/N: I won't even think of apologizing for the lateness of this chapter. I've been busy running over to other fandoms because I was so depressed at what the world was coming to. To everyone who stayed loyal to this story, thank you. ^-^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Leave her and come with me. Eriol, divorce her. Marry me. We were happy before she was ever around, before you even knew her. She doesn't love you. I do. Can't you understand that?"

"And you, can't you understand that I love her?"

-Ten: Left-

It was as if he no longer acknowledged that there was still life around him. His outlook went from black to blacker within days. The life of the house had left, leaving in its wake immense traces of despair. No laughter survived in the mansion when the lady left. 

He was aware of everything and nothing at all. When he heard a swish of silk rustling against chiffon he turned sharply around to see. A flash of black might be raven hair. A pale swatch of skin might be a slender hand.

__

Here I am, Eriol.

He looked up. _Tomoyo?_

It wasn't her. This woman had crimson hair and ruby eyes. It was someone who could never, ever be Tomoyo. 

Kaho was the one who stood before him, who still stubbornly stayed and cared for him even though she knew that the whole manor rejected her very presence.

Kaho, whom he did not want, nor love.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked tonelessly.

"Taking care of you," she replied. "You're a wreck. What is it with you? What does that lowly prostitute have that I don't? I can give you money, Eriol. I can give you power. I can give you everything she has given, in bed or out of it, and more! That little girl was nothing but a common whore!"

Eriol's eyes flared. "Do not talk about her that way," he muttered. "I do not need you here."

"Eriol, it's the truth," she persisted. "Why won't you let her go? She has left you." She took his hand. "I can be better than her."

He retracted his hand sharply. "No. You can never compare to her. You've ruined my life enough, Kaho. Stop it already."

And he walked out.

----

"Okaasama… dead?" Tomoyo repeated disbelievingly. 

The elderly Miki nodded. "Died of a disease still unknown to us all. The doctor said something about her blood going bad, or something like that. I am very sorry, ojou-sama, but she had strict orders not to give word to you."

"And my father?" asked Tomoyo, panicky now. "Is he well?"

"The Master is upstairs, resting," replied Miki. "Ojou-sama… your father, Master Ken. He is dying as well."

Tomoyo didn't even stop to think. She ran up the enormous staircase to her father's room, the words echoing in her head. _Father. Dying._

Father. Dying.

It cannot be!

"Otou-chan!" she cried as she hurled the door open. "Otou-chan!"

Ken straightened at the voice of his only daughter. Then his eyes widened. "Chiisa hana…?" 

Tomoyo rushed to his side. "'tou-chan…" She laid her head on his bed. His hand reached up automatically to stroke her hair. 

"Chiisa… hana," he said weakly. "What are you doing here? Why are you back? Did something happen with Hiiragizawa?"

Tomoyo couldn't answer. Instead she looked up, teary-eyed, at her father and said, "Everything will be just fine, Otou-chan. I'm home now."

----

"The doctors' medicine is keeping him alive," said Mai. "But we're almost out."

"Can we buy some more?" asked Tomoyo. 

"Yes, Ojou-sama, but I must remind you that the medicine is very expensive."

Tomoyo breathed in sharply. This was the exact reason why she had been married off to Eriol in the first place. To support her family. What now?

"And the treasury?"

Mai shook her head regretfully. "My apologies, Ojou-sama. But there is very little gold left since Hiiragizawa-sama last sent money. It will last no more than a month."

The young lady bit her lip, nervous. What was she to do now? Run back to Eriol? She remembered the spectacle on her bed no more than two days ago and crushed the thought. She was NOT going back to Eriol. There was no need to, because her father wasn't dying. She'd be damned before that. 

Damned. There was an idea.

"I'll look for work tomorrow," Tomoyo decided.

Mai looked horrified. "Ojou-sama! But you can't!"

"I have to," said the lady firmly. 

"Let us—"

Tomoyo looked at the young servant and smiled. But her smile was devoid of joy. "Mai, I cannot 'let you' do things for me forever," she whispered. "If I do not do anything, my father will—" she broke off, trying not to think about it. "I can't lose him, do you see?" she said. "He's all I have right now."

But everywhere she went she was turned down.

She went to town looking for a job, any job, but it seemed the whole women population of the city had rose up in arms and gathered against her and her blood. When she was about to be accepted, someone's wife or mother would interfere and she would be thrown out into the street.

"—not the Kurotori—"

"—her family's bad blood—"

"—child of the temptress—"

"—not her, she's Flame's daughter—"

"—she's a whore like her mother—"

"—she's getting what her whole bloodline deserves—"

Tomoyo let it all slide off her like water. These were things she had grown up with and could never escape no matter where she ran.

But she was desperate.

Once she stepped back into the mansion she was met with a panicked cry.

"Ojou-sama!!"

It had come from her father's room.

She gathered up her skirts and ran.

And there was her father, surrounded by panicked servants, having a terrible seizure.

"Otou-chan!" Tomoyo yelled. Then she shouted for a doctor. Then she yelled her father's name again.

She could only hold on to her father's hand. "We'll be all right, we'll be all right," she chanted.

Tears were falling from her eyes to her father's sheets.

-tsuzuku-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: This is the part where it really gets tricky. I'll leave a chapter snippet here to stave you all off. If I get any death threats or pointy objects in my email I'm going to make sure you guys never see more of Masquerade 'til two years. I'm not kidding. 

::Masquerade Eleven—Suicide::

"If they think I'm a whore, if they think I'm a prostitute, if they think I'm my mother—so be it forever," Tomoyo said grimly.

"…! Ojou-sama, we beg of you, please! Don't—" cried Mai.

"We have no choice," the lady said. "I have no other options than this."

"There are other ways—"

"There are no other ways left, Mai. There is nothing left. Now give me the key."

"I beg you to reconsider, my lady!"

"The key, Mai," Tomoyo repeated forcefully. "Hand it over to me now."

Mai turned to Obaasan-Miki for support. The old woman merely shook her head. With a small whimper, she handed the key over to the lady. 

It was a silver key. The silver key to the room at the end of the third level hallway. The key to the Untouched Room, where all of her mother's possessions were kept. All of her mother's possessions before she married her father.

Her days of being the Flame, from out of necessity or simple spite, it didn't matter to Tomoyo anymore. This was necessity. Desperate necessity.

She walked out of the room and up the stairs without looking back.


	11. Suicide

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

Please see previous chapters for full disclaimer

For Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If they think I'm a whore, if they think I'm a prostitute, if they think I'm my mother—so be it forever," Tomoyo said grimly.

"…! Ojou-sama, we beg of you, please! Don't—" cried Mai.

"We have no choice," the lady said. "I have no other options than this."

"There are other ways—"

"There are no other ways left, Mai. There is nothing left. Now give me the key."

"I beg you to reconsider, my lady!"

"The key, Mai," Tomoyo repeated forcefully. "Hand it over to me now."

Mai turned to Obaasan-Miki for support. The old woman merely shook her head. With a small whimper, she handed the key over to the lady. 

It was a silver key. The silver key to the room at the end of the third level hallway. The key to the Untouched Room, where all of her mother's possessions were kept. All of her mother's possessions before she married her father.

Her days of being the Flame, from out of necessity or simple spite, it didn't matter to Tomoyo anymore. This was necessity. Desperate necessity.

She walked out of the room and up the stairs without looking back.

****

-Eleven: Suicide-

Tomoyo went into her mother's old dressing room, the one her mother had dubbed 'untouched'. 

Everything was covered in dust from not being used or opened for over twenty mortal years. Yet, the possessions hidden within, the closets, the mirrors, were ageless, as if they had been waiting long for their mistress to return to them.

She touched her fingers to the table and felt her mother there. And she knew what her mother had done in order to support herself, in order to survive.

She went to the closet and began to search.

She threw out old, heavy garment of silk, satin, lace, in colors of dark, rich red, burgundy, green, blue. These were not what she sought, but would be useful later on. She reached deep into the corners of the closet, striving to see darkness in the darkness. 

Her hands caught on a piece of black fabric and knew that it was the one.

The cloth was heavy, but the dress was fine, even after years of neglect. Made of black brocade, beaded with black pearls and other such black gems, lined with black lace, Tomoyo recognized it from a memory of long ago---

__

"This is something your father has forbidden me to let you see, Kurotori," her mother said in a tone that suggested conspiracy. "But you must know, and you must understand. This, Kurotori, is your legend, your legacy."

Her mother handed her a small painting, and Tomoyo saw her mother in a black dress, her hair up and holding a black fan. She looked very evil.

"This, my daughter, is the Flame, destroyer of men. This is what I truly am. 

"We have suffered, my daughter. I have suffered many years under the hands of cruelty. But no longer," she said. "I have destroyed all those who have given me pain. Kurotori, know that this is what I did in order to keep you safe. To keep this family safe. I understand that it is not the best path, but sometimes, my daughter, my black bird, you shall understand…" Sonomi sighed. "That sometimes humans are not given a choice."

The Flame: black, grim, deathly; beautiful.

The Flame: the destroyer.

It was her destiny as well.

----

She put the dress on and stared at the full-length mirror. A perfect fit, as if the dress had been made for moments exactly like this, as if it had been waiting for her. The black beads gleamed silver next to her pale skin. Her shoulders were exposed to the musty air. The lace on the edges moved when she did.

Then she sat on her mother's dresser and blew the dust away; it swirled around her before finally following the air. In their wake they revealed perfumes, cream, rouge.

In a small chest she found a black hair ornament that had the same designs as the dress. She pulled her hair down from the tie it was in and began piling it up with pins on top of her head, the way her mother's was in the painting.

Then she put makeup on, elaborately. Silver on her eyelids, pink on her cheeks, blood-red on her lips and a lock on her heart to match it all.

As a last touch, a bottle of perfume labeled "For the Flame".

And then she looked at herself in the mirror. From head to toe, beautiful. Utterly irresistible to a degree. The new Flame, one that they would all call Kurotori. The most beauitful woman in the world. The most expensive harlot in the country.

Her mother would have been proud.

The dark, dark lashes fringed the violet eyes that betrayed her truth. The powder and the rouge an elaborate mask to hide the scared child inside. 

There had to be nothing left but a cold, beautiful shell. She had no choice: _Sometimes humans are not given a choice. _Either this or her family's downfall. Either this or her father's death. Either this or the loss of everything she so treasured.

She had already lost her one treasure. That one man who made her happy, that one man she left weeping for her in the garden. That one man was everything, and he was not here.

A lone tear fell down her cheek from empty, hollow eyes.

And there was nothing else.

----

The servants of the house all awaited with bated breath the opening of the Untouched Room. It had been nearly five hours since the young Lady had went inside.

They feared for what was to come.

The door opened.

Mai's hand flew to her mouth. "Ojou-sama!"

And soon everyone was at an uproar. They were pleading, threatening, entreating. Obaasan-Miki took one look at the young mistress and knew that none of them would be able to reach her.

Ojou-sama's eyes were completely, absolutely blank.

Their mistress, the young lady, Tomoyo, had committed suicide.

--tsuzuku—


	12. Glitter

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

Please see previous chapters for full disclaimer

For Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The news spread like wildfire all over town, then across cities and spanned all of the countryside. 

"The Flame has returned!"

"But Daidouji Sonomi has been dead for over five months! How can this be?"

"It's not Sonomi, dear lady, it's the Kurotori—her daughter."

"Ah, we always knew that the child would be up to no good some day—the fruit never does fall far from the tree, does it, Keiko?"

And so on and so on, by word of mouth it spread, that the Flame had reincarnated in the body of Daidouji Sonomi's only daughter, until it reached the ears of a very wealthy duke by the name of Kourin Yohji. 

This Kourin had once been Sonomi's wealthiest patron. He had given her everything, and even offered to marry her once. 

__

~~*~~

A young Sonomi was reclining on a velvet couch sipping wine from a glass when a very angry Yohji entered the room.

"Why have you sent this back?" he spat as he threw a small velvet covered box across the room. Sonomi watched with calm eyes as it sailed above her head and hit the wall behind her with a bang.

"I have told you time and again, Yohji. I will not marry you," she said coolly.

"Why not? You have been living on my money for a year and a half now, Sonomi! I have given you everything you have asked for, everything you wanted, every little trinket, every small bauble you set your eyes on and had even a glimmer of interest in! And still you refuse?" Yohji yelled.

"Is that it, then?" Sonomi retorted. "You believe you can buy me with all the useless junk you send here?"

"Don't—" said Yohji, trying to keep a rein on his anger. "Don't try me, Sonomi."

"I am not trying, Yohji," she said calmly. "I will not marry you. Now or ever. I am breaking this affair."

"WHAT?!" he roared. He stalked over to her and clutched her shoulders. "How dare you, Sonomi!"

Sonomi merely waved a hand over the tabletop beside her. On it were tiny stacks of gold coins, almost spilling over. "I pay my debt to you. Every single cent you have spent on my behalf. Every single jewel you have given me this past year and a half. I owe you nothing."

Yohji sputtered. "You cannot do this to me, Sonomi!"

"I can and I have," Sonomi said tonelessly.

Yohji stalked out of her quarters, out onto the street into his carriage, fuming. Sonomi watched from her window as it drove away. She was not sorry.

~~*~~

And two weeks after that Kourin heard from a local that the Flame had married the Daidouji duke. Yohji had never found it in his heart to forgive her treacherous soul, even when news of her death had reached his ears. 

Now it was the time for vengeance.

****

-Twelve: Glitter-

It was a handsome carriage that drew up the dilapidated Daidouji estate that fine Monday morning, and the townspeople, ever-nosy, strained to see who was inside. Even the servants of the home, who still haven't left, feeling a sort of mass loyalty for the mistress they would have to leave behind, were curious as to who the visitor was.

Tomoyo stared from an upstairs window and watched as a handsome dark-haired man dismounted from the carriage and began talking politely to her butler, a rather heavyset man named Toko. Toko gave him a measuring look and led him inside. Two minutes later, the butler was at her room announcing the arrival of one "Kourin Shinosuke". To be more exact, one "**DUKE **of Kourin, Shinosuke".

She had to blink twice before it set in. For one thing, who the blazing hell was Kourin Shinosuke? Tomoyo vaguely remembered a Kourin from her mother's copies of Baronetage. The possibility that this man WAS in fact a duke wasn't so far-off either, if the lavish carriage and the expensive wardrobe was anything to go by. "Send him in, then," she said. 

A man with dark brown hair and startling blue eyes entered the room a few minutes later. He was dressed in the finest garments, in sparkling jewels. A handsome man with sharp features. 

"I don't believe I know you," said Tomoyo from her position at the couch, lounging. 

"My name is Kourin Shinosuke. I am the only son and heir to my father, Yohji," he said, bowing.

"Your father—he was friends with my mother, am I correct?" she said. 

"They were rather close, yes," Shinosuke replied. "My father once asked your mother to marry him."

"Is that so," she replied. "And what brings you to my humble home, Kourin-san?"

He knelt at her side, took her hand. It was a movement that would have looked awkward on other men. "I want to be close to you, Daidouji-san. The way my father was with your mother."

Tomoyo began to laugh. "And can you pay the price?"

He kissed the back of her hand. "Yes."

She laughed again. "This, I should like to see."

Shinosuke smiled. "Let me show you."

----

It was a ray of light, penetrating his shadowed abode, that announced the arrival of someone to Hiiragizawa Eriol.

"What business have you here?" he spat.

"To give you word about your wife," Kaho said. "See here, it is the word in all the land. Your wife has followed in the footsteps of her prostitute mother. She has taken the title of the Flame and is now nothing but a common whore," she continued in a very satisfied manner. "Do you still want her now, Eriol? Do you still want her now that she is selling herself to every man with a shiny penny coming her way?"

The movement was so sudden it stunned her. In the few seconds that the silence hung after Kaho's ringing words, Eriol had risen from his chair and grabbed her arm, painfully.

"Don't talk about her."

Kaho threw him a sidelong glance. "I only speak the truth."

"You don't know her," he growled dangerously.

"And?" she asked. "Do you?"

----


	13. Silence

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

Please see previous chapters for the full disclaimer.

Author's Note: … Oh man. I wrote this story five years ago, and its style is very different from the style I employ now. However, it seems unfair to leave readers of this story hanging, so I'm going to put up the next few chapters, until the end. I must however remind all of you that this story was never beta-read and the version that comes up here was edited as I went along—meaning this is the rough draft, folks. So… On with the show, then.

This fic is for Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

"I will never give her up for anything, or anyone, in the world."

**Thirteen: Silence**

Tomoyo stared hard at the man sitting across the table from her. Kourin Shinosuke.

The man paid an obscene amount of money to make her exclusive to him, but he took nothing from her. In the two weeks he'd stayed at the mansion, he never forced her into anything she wasn't ready or willing to do. She didn't know whether she ought to be elated, or scared. The man had paid a price—surely he expected something in return?

_But what?_

She wondered why he chose someone such as herself over all of the women around him. Tomoyo's spies had not failed her—she knew that Shinosuke was a bright young man who studied overseas and had inherited a lot of money from his father, the former Duke of Kourin. He was handsome—if you liked the tidy type—and intelligent. There were a lot of women—mostly widows of the ton, mothers to shy little violets—who were after him, both for his prestige and his pocketbook. He could have had his choice from all of them, but he chose her, the daughter of a known courtesan.

A separated courtesan herself, at that.

She just couldn't understand it.

"Is there something wrong, Kurotori?" he asked suddenly. "You've been staring at my head since the meal started."

"… I'm sorry," she replied quickly. She averted her gaze, but returned them at once to look at his eyes.

His eyes were blue. So like Eriol's.

She started violently and looked down at her plate of food. She was in no position to be thinking about Eriol now, or ever again.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

He was here to take his revenge against the daughter of the woman who had spurned his father, twenty years ago.

And he would have it, no matter what. He would gain her trust, and then her love. He would give her everything she liked until she was out of her mind for him, and then he would leave her, in the rags and tatters a woman like her deserved to wear.

Shinosuke smiled inwardly.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Tomoyo's father's condition worsened even when his medicine was brought to him.

"What's happening to him?" Tomoyo asked, in tears.

"I don't know," said the doctor.

Tomoyo clasped her father's hand.

"Otouchan… please hold on."

At night Tomoyo prayed. She was surrounded in gold and in glitter, wore diamonds and other precious stones. She had expensive, beautiful things.

But she was not happy.

She had in fact forgotten what happiness felt like, in the weeks of turmoil that had passed. Most days she felt as if she were drifting from day to day feeling no discernible emotion.

_Eriol_

She rebelled against her heart, but her heart was too strong. She thought of nothing else, saw no one else. The memories lingered in every strand of air around her, the way the scent of his roses never left her.

Gold and glitter meant nothing to her—they of course guaranteed her survival, her family's security. But these are nothing to a heart that wants only to be released. Nothing to a soul that only wants to be set free.

She needed Eriol.

And at night she cries for the things she has lost.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

"A Masquerade ball?" Tomoyo repeated. "Whatever for?"

"I would like to celebrate our meeting," Shinosuke told her. "It's nice to celebrate, every once in a while."

She looked at him, saying nothing.

"I'll take your silence as assent, then," he said. "I'll be gone for a few weeks. Arrange the ball."

tsuzuku


	14. Void

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

Please see previous chapters for the full disclaimer.

This fic is for Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

"Is there something bothering you, ojousama?"

"… No. There's nothing at all."

**Fourteen: Void**

"You can tell me about it, ojousama," said Miki. "I have been with you since you were but a baby. I know everything about you… and I know when you have too much in your heart that you are hiding."

"I don't love him," Tomoyo blurted out.

"Ah, but that much was easy enough to see," said the old housekeeper. "You love Hiiragizawa-sama."

Tomoyo looked away. "Yes. I do. Love Eriol. But… he betrayed me."

"And what does your heart say?"

"… That I would rather not live without him, despite his betrayal."

"Then ojousama, you know the answer."

Tomoyo shook her head. "No. I am in a contract with the Kourin duke. All of us are dependent on the fact that I must stay with him."

"But, ojousama—"

"I can't break my oath," Tomoyo said finally. "My love for Eriol does not matter. It doesn't seem like I matter to him anyway."

"How do you know that?"

"Because, Obaasan, if he loved me like he said he did—he'd have followed me here."

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

It was on a gray day that silence fell upon the mansion—a painful heavy silence in the absence of a good man.

Daidouji Ken was dead.

He had died in his daughter's arms, his last breath dedicated to reassuring her.

"Everyone's time comes sooner or later, chiisa hana," he had said softly. "Mine is now. Be happy, my little flower. I will be with your mother now, watching over you forever."

And with that the Flame and the man who had conquered her were reunited.

The wake lasted three days, and on the dawn of the fourth day, amidst the rain and the sunrise, Tomoyo's father was buried beside his beloved wife.

Tomoyo threw a flower down to his coffin—a single red rose, a symbol of his undying love to her mother. At that moment she realized that she was free—free like the birds to fly with no obligations surrounding them.

And at that moment everything went black.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

"She's WHAT!" Obaasan Miki's yell reverberated throughout the mansion.

"Tomoyo-sama is with child," the doctor said. "All she needs is rest—she seems exhausted."

Mai looked at the elderly housekeeper as the doctor gathered his equipment and left. "It's not Kourin-san's, is it?"

Miki shook her head. "Impossible. Tomoyo-sama's child is most definitely…"

"Hiiragizawa-sama's?"

The housekeeper nodded.

"What are we going to do?"

"… Nothing, for now."

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

"I'm WHAT?" Tomoyo asked.

"Pregnant, as it seems, Tomoyo-sama," Miki repeated. "The doctor we called in when you fainted at the burial said so."

Tomoyo breathed in. This was a problem. No… this was a miracle. An amazing, beautiful miracle. She was carrying Eriol's child.

"Tomoyo-sama?"

"… I don't want Kourin to know about this," she said with finality. "I want to tell him myself."

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Kourin Shinosuke reacted with all the calmness of a raging volcano as Tomoyo tried to reason with him.

"I have to break this off. It's not too late—you can still find someone else to marry you. You can find someone who's better than me, who can bear your children, who will not disgrace your name."

"No," he refused. "You're mine now, Kurotori. I paid for you."

Tomoyo backed up a step. The mania was burning bright in his eyes. Suddenly, she was scared.

"We're going through with the ball," Shinosuke said with a twisted smile on his face. "I want the whole world to know how happy I am at the birth of MY child."

Tomoyo's eyes widened. "What?"

"I'm not giving you up so you can go back to that Hiiragizawa, Tomoyo. You're mine."

Outside the door, Miki heard it all. She hurried away to find a pen and a piece of paper.

Later, she sent an errand boy to the house of Hiiragizawa Eriol.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Invitations were sent out across the country to a masquerade ball to be hosted at the Daidouji mansion.

One of them made its way to Hiiragizawa Eriol.

It came with a letter.

_Hiiragizawa-sama__—_

_It would interest you to know that the child Daidouji-ojousama is carrying is not Kourin Shinosuke's. _

It was not signed.

tsuzuku


	15. Masked

Masquerade

By Ekai Ungson

Please see previous chapters for the full disclaimer.

This fic is for Luna, in gratitude for created grace, beauty, and friendship.

Notes: … dies. The last time this story was updated was September of 2005. I faintly remember a computer crash and losing all my data. I've since moved on to other fandoms, but I found the hard copy of the story recently, and am retyping it as is with no edits, just for completion purposes. My eternal apologies for those who have waited so long.

"Put your mask on, Tomoyo. It's time for the final act."

**Fifteen: Masked**

The ball was filled with bright lights, music, laughter. To Tomoyo, it was all a mockery. She was nowhere near happy—she was desperate.

Her place was by Shinosuke's side, and that was where she stayed. He had ensured that, at the very least. A maid's loosened tongue had alerted him to her condition, and he had come to her quarters looking very self-satisfied. He wished to claim the child as his own, he told her. It would serve as the ultimate slap to Hiiragizawa's face. Tomoyo was powerless to intervene.

From behind the crowds, a man watched; wearing a mask to obscure his face.

She did not see when he entered the room, but Tomoyo felt that presence, clear as a current of electricity over her spine. She looked around, confused. Surely he was not so foolish? Yet she knew. Tomoyo gazed across the sea of masked faces.

_I know you are here._

The night progressed without incident. A man bravely walked up to the Kurotori, seated on a divan.

"Will you dance, Black Bird?"

She looked up and she knew. Slowly, she took the hand he offered her. Once out on the floor she could barely contain herself. "What are you doing here?" she hissed. "Kourin has lost his mind. He will murder you when he finds you."

The masked man gave her a smile. "Do you know who I am?"

"I know who you are, and very well," she whispered. "Leave at once. What is your purpose here?"

"I came to save you from yourself."

"You have nothing to save me from," she muttered. "This is a choice I made myself."

"Oh yes?" he questioned. "I think I do."

She stared at him. He shook his head. "These wounds at your back, I feel them as well as I feel my own. Kourin has not been treating you well. I will get you and my child out of this hellhole."

Tomoyo's jaw fairly dropped. "How in the world would you know—"

"I have friends in holy spaces," he replied cryptically. "Trust me."

Trust him? Never again, Tomoyo had vowed, not since that fateful day just before she left him. Her mother had been right—men were not to be trusted. But right at that moment, she wanted to believe in him.

"I have missed the scent of your roses," she admitted quietly. "I have missed you, but I have nothing to offer you now—not my honor, not my dignity. Why would you still want to be with me?"

His eyes were kind behind the mask. "Because you loved me for who I am," he said simply. "I too can love you for who you are, no matter what has happened."

The song ended. Eriol brushed his lips against her forehead lightly before letting go.

"It'll be all right."

O

Shinosuke wasn't a lot different from his father, the one who had loved her mother. His jealousy flared for seemingly no reason, and no explanation could sway him. He pulled Tomoyo aside forcefully when she came back, hissing out his displeasure. "Who was that?"

Tomoyo winced. Telling him the truth was out of the question. "I don't know him."

"Don't lie to me!" A hand was raised, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the slap to connect.

It never came. When she opened her eyes, Shinosuke was on the floor, Eriol towering over him. He turned to her. "Are you all right?"

She stared at Shinosuke's unmoving form and breathed in. "You've killed him."

Eriol shook his head. "I should have. Had he hit you I might have. At the moment he's lost consciousness, but you and I should leave, now." He took her hand, pulling her across the dance floor. They were halfway to the exit when one of the guards caught sight of his fallen master and alerted the rest.

Shots were fired into the air, and the guests scattered for cover. With no place to hide, Eriol and Tomoyo stood in the middle of the dance floor, completely vulnerable.

"We're trapped," she whispered.

He shook his head fiercely. "Not yet."

Tomoyo gasped suddenly—Eriol turned only to stare down the barrel of a pistol in the hands of a bleeding Shinosuke. "Give her up or I kill you both."

O

She could feel her heart, slamming against her chest, blood rushing in her ears. Eriol was looking at her. She shook her head. She would die with him, or for him.

"Let her go," Shinosuke ordered. "She belongs to me."

"I have never belonged to you!" she spat. Daisuke's eyes narrowed. Eriol moved her protectively behind him. The guards were closing in.

"Better that I die now," he whispered to her. "I will not have him hurt you."

"No!" she exclaimed, but she heard Shinosuke cock the pistol, madness in his eyes.

A shot was fired.

Tomoyo was unsure as to what had happened next, but the guards took off in every direction, and Eriol remained standing.

Shinosuke was on the floor, dead, as Miki-baasan lowered her rifle, still smoking.

With this her nightmare ended.

With this her new life began.

Fin.

032002.


End file.
